When the grandfather, 51, popped the hood, there was a malfunction of some kind and the engine burst into flames, Zuniga said.

The man was unable to get back into the vehicle to save his grandchild, who was in the passenger seat. The grandfather was taken to University Hospital with burns not considered to be life threatening.

Sanchez, 62, said the front of the pickup was already engulfed in flames in the few moments it took for him to run toward the road after hearing the man's cries for help.

By the time Sanchez got to the vehicle, he said the flames were already higher than the street signs by the accident.

He tried to look for a handle on the pickup, but he couldn't even tell if the vehicle had two or four doors, he said.

He said he thought the grandfather tried to help the child because his hair was singed, and he no longer had eyebrows or eyelashes.

Joe Martinez, 45, who has lived on Rogers Road for years, said he also heard the grandfather shouting. When he ran out of his home, he saw Sanchez and the grandfather by the flame-engulfed pickup and thought the worse.

Martinez said the grandfather was pacing around the road in distress and shouting, “I don't know what I'm gonna tell my daughter!”

Zuniga said the police are looking into the cause of the fire in the 1988 Chevy pickup.